The Republic of Korea (RoK) considers Vietnam an important partner in the region and one of its key partners in its policy of supplying official development assistance (ODA).
 |
|
State President Truong Tan Sang and President Lee Myung-bak, November 8 2011
|
RoK President Lee Myung-bak made this affirmation at talks with Vietnamese State President Truong Tan Sang in the capital city of Seoul on November 8.
The RoK will to increase ODA to Vietnam in future, especially in the fields of infrastructure and human resource training, Lee Myung-bak said.
State President Sang highly valued RoK’s ODA to Vietnam, affirming that Vietnam is using this assistance effectively.
The two leaders expressed their delight at the rapid and effective development of friendship and cooperation between the two countries over the past years, especially since the two nations established a strategic partnership in 2009. They declared 2012 as the “Vietnam– RoK Friendship Year” with a series of activities to celebrate the 20th anniversary of diplomatic ties.
The two sides shared similar views on pathways and specific measures to deepen and uplift the two countries’ strategic partnership to a new height, for the benefits of the two peoples and to contribute to peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region.
They also agreed to continue stepping up visits and exchanges between the two countries’ leaders to promote trust and mutual understanding, and strengthen strategic dialogue and practical cooperation in the fields of diplomacy, national defense and security.
The Vietnamese and RoK leaders agreed to continue boosting and deepening bilateral economic and trade cooperation to fulfill the goal of raising two-way trade to US $20 billion by 2015 and move toward the target of US $30 billion , and working closely to stabilize the trade balance between the two countries.
The two sides consented to promote people exchanges, protect and ensure legitimate interests of citizens of the other country living in each country, strengthen judicial and consular cooperation, including the acceleration of the signing of a judicial cooperation agreement in the civil field, and highly valued their effective cooperation in labor and vocational training.
They also agreed to promote coordination at regional and international forums, work closely to deal with global issues for sustainable development, including coping with climate change, disarmament for weapons of mass destruction, fighting global terrorism, maintaining peace and stability and ensuring maritime freedom on territorial waters in the region in line with international law./.